Blog Archives

A controversial insight into the daily lives of East Tyrone women married to Loughshore fishermen is to be screened over the summer, with some critics predicting it will become the greatest TV series since Dallas in the 1980s.

Details on the Desperate Fishwives plot have been hard to come by with BBC officials remaining tight-lipped about the project, instead releasing information on some of the main characters who may become immediate superstars such as Sue-Ellen and Miss Ellie.

Crystal McCourt:

Crystal is a 36-year-old red-haired ex-PSNI officer married to Bob McCourt, a 600 eel-a-day fisherman. Crystal, bored as Bob spends 20 hrs a day on Lough Neagh fishing and blathering, takes a notion to the local priest who in return hears her confession 4 times a day. Crystal tries to gain acceptance into the local community despite her shady past as an Armagh woman.

Pamela-Jane Coney

Pamela-Jane (39), who won the 1998 Ardboe Miss Wrangler Jeans competition at sports day, is married to Rob Coney – the captain of the Rams Island trout-fishing boat. Mrs Coney spends her days running a massage parlour in Moortown, frequented by many well-known local celebs such as Malachi Cush, Paddy Heaney and Philip Jordan who often leave smiling a lot.

Francine Quinn

Francine (23) causes consternation when she weds 81-year old Patsy Quinn, the millionaire ‘King of the Salmon’ fishing businessman. Francine fills her hours walking around the Washingbay winking at young men and dressed in long frocks and sparkling jewellery.

BBC producer Williard Butler added:

“The show follows six fishwives about for 12 months. We encounter fighting, diffing, slapping, cousin-fancying, fishing, crying, laughing, drinking and punching as the women meet up once a week. This will create serious tourism for the area.”

In a brave move to symbolise changed times in Ireland, an Orange Order branch in Tyrone have tabled a motion to completely re-brand the fraternal organisation by changing its name to a ‘more modern colour’ in order to attract a younger audience as well as creating a fresh start with non-protestant neighbours.

Strabane True Blues LOL 90 forwarded the idea after all branches were sent a questionnaire asking how they thought the Loyal Orange Institution could embrace the 21st century in a positive manner and turn the 12th of July commemorations into something more family friendly like Christmas.

The Chief Grand Master of the West Tyrone branch, Lord Marrow, reckoned a complete re-branding is the only way to throw off the shackles of centuries-old negative perceptions and encourage a new representation of the brotherhood:

“Orange isn’t really an attractive colour any more. You rarely find people wearing orange clothes or driving orange vehicles. Whereas the bitter lemon stimulates ideas of freshness and cleanliness – restaurants often give you lemon to wash off juices and sauces. Salmon is also another colour we’re looking into. You picture salmon leaping into the air and grabbing the future by the scruff. We’re really excited that our idea is top of the agenda.”

Lord Marrow also motioned the need for more women in the parades, dressed to attract a youthful male membership:

“If you ever watch the St Patrick’s Day parades you’ll see many young buxom women, slightly tipsy and in green, cavorting on floats and in parades and it’s a real pull for the viewer. We need to look at our marches and maybe spice it up a bit with plunging necklines etc. I know the older members will frown on this but we must move with the times.”

Orange Order Assistant Director of Services Harold Pringles admitted it will be hard to get the above motions passed:

“To call us the Lemon Order will cost millions in terms of merchandise recalls but it might just be worth it. The proposal to inject younger women into the parades won’t pass but maybe we can provide cosmetic help to our current female sisterhood members.”

A vote on the new name will take place in Limavady next week.

Meanwhile, the Royal Black Institution have admitted they are following this motion will interest and are open to changing their name to lime, puce or burgundy.